Live, Laugh, Loathe: Not Your Typical EMS Pep Talk

Expanded Full-Length Session! Live, Laugh, Loathe is a raw, deeply personal monologue tracing the journey of someone who has stood on both sides of the stretcher, first as a patient shaped by stigma and trauma, then as a paramedic, educator, and leader shaped by responsibility. This session examines how compassion is formed, lost, and reclaimed in EMS. Attendees are invited to confront uncomfortable realities about burnout, emotional hardening, and the quiet ways culture influences care long before a protocol is ever applied. Through lived experience and professional insight, the session connects provider presence, tone, and behavior to patient dignity, trust, and long-term outcomes. It challenges common attitudes toward high-frequency and high-frustration call types while honoring the cumulative impact those calls have on providers. This is not a motivational pep talk. It is reflective, honest, and grounded in real consequences. Attendees leave with shared language, renewed awareness, and a deeper understanding of the responsibility they carry into every room they enter.